Semiconductor memories, such as read only memories (“ROMs”), random access memories (“RAMs”), flash memories, and the like, are incorporated in a wide array of portable electronic devices including mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, and personal music players, e.g., iPods. The operation of such semiconductor memories is dependent on timing signals, which are used to control the reading data from and writing data to memory bit cells.
As designers continue to try extend the battery life of portable electronic devices, the operating voltages of the semiconductor memories are reduced. The reduction of the operating voltage can cause issues with reliably writing data to and reading data from the semiconductor memory due to a smaller voltage swing. Consequently, some semiconductor memory designs utilize negative voltages during writing operations as a way to increase the voltage swing of the memory bit cell so that data may be reliably written. Conventional semiconductor memories rely on local timing circuits to provide the negative voltages at a precise time during a write operation. However, such conventional semiconductor memories suffer from significant area penalties from including the timing circuitry for providing negative voltages to the bit lines.